Year 9 Rugby Tournament

What a night this was… The lads were so excited for their first tournament of the new academic year; and they were brilliant.

We arrived at Farnley Academy, playing against 3 other schools to try and secure a place in the finals for the first time and potentially some silverware. What a group of players they are!

We played the most difficult opposition first, struggling to get our foot in and still working out our game plan. Farnley Academy, who were made up of club players and were much more organised, were our first game. We contended fearlessly and made them work hard to score against us. Unfortunately, we lost 2 tries to 0.

Going into our second game the team realised their mistakes from the first performance and came out ready for a fight. We scored early against Cockburn Lawrence Calvert to take the lead. From there it was a very even game before Cockburn were able to even the scores with a well worked try. With minutes to go, Jude stepped up with a phenomenal run, bursting through the defence to score an amazing solo try to win the game.

Finally, we played against Dixons Unity Academy, the boys had clearly learnt from their mistakes and quickly scored 4 tries, showing their true grit and determination. With some fantastic defensive efforts from the entire team, we managed to scupper several attacks resulting in turnover ball from the pressure. With a few substitutes made we lost composure and Dixons were able to score a try. In the final minutes a late substitution of Enoch coming back onto the field, burst through the defence to score our final try in the dying minutes to end the game 5 tries to 1 in our favour.

For the first time in this teams journey we are proceeding to the finals night, where we will have the opportunity to play against the other top schools in Leeds.

Mohammed captained the team and was a role model for the other players, leading from the front and tackling well above his weight. However, the player of the evening has to go to Evan Toms Lijo. This was his first ever rugby tournament and he was absolutely fearless, he tackled people twice his size and weight and never took a backward step. He had told some of the other students that he was nervous but both I and Mr Reed never saw this. He was amazing and a deserving man of the tournament.

I am sure Mr Reed will agree that the team were an absolute credit to the year group and the MSM community.

Samuel Cooper
Education Inclusion Mentor – Leeds SAFE Taskforce